Re: Andreas

John Laroche (Sabercat@ix.netcom.com)
Thu, 9 Feb 1995 19:02:28 -0800

You wrote:

>
>Rick,
>you raised, probably sarcastically, an interesting point. You asked if
>"you had permits for your N. khasiana?" This is interesting. I
obtained seed
>from an US collector and the plants are rather large now. Now - I need
a
>permit for this, even when it was obtained in the US? Where would I
get a
>permit like this? I have heard this before, can you explain this?
>
>Christoph
>eheick@acs.bu.edu
>
>
I have had quite a bit of experience in this sphere. If you want an
account of my exploits with Endangered Plants and (believe it or not)
American Indians...Pick up a copy of the January 23 issue of the New
Yorker. Yes that arrogant man feature therein is me. Anywhy,
practically, to own any endangered plant that is NOT native to the US is
not a problem. No one is going to mess with your Neps. However, if you
are caught smuggling ALL your plants permitted or not are as good as
gone. If you want to ship them out of the country, you will need to
prove that they have been cultivated. In the past (with orchids and
cycads as well as CP's)I have used germination logs, reciepts of sale
and the common sense of the inspector to get this done. NATIVE American
species are very different and CITES is so screwed up I washed my hands
of it. I'm sure many of you know Clyde Bramblett; from what he told me,
he was denyed a permit to ship VFT's that he had intentionally
cultivated. Why? He grow them in a natural Bog (I forget but I think he
owned it.leased it?)that was located in Central Florida. As you all
know, this is a long way from their natural habitat!
>From my own personal experience...don't rely on the "law" the law will
protect you only as far as the people enforcing it will allow it to. Yes
this may be cynical, but if you read my story, you will see that I am
right.
Sorry to ramble on...this thread hit a nerve.
John

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